


Giftwrapped

by chillsoya



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 2020 Christmas Writing, Best Friends, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Parties, Christmas Presents, Friends to Lovers, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Mild Language, Modern AU, Muggle AU, Mutual Pining, No Explicit Sexual Content, Not Beta Read, Pet play reference, Remus Lupin is Moony for Sirius, Sex toy reference, Slight kink reference, Unresolved Sexual Tension, alcohol use, implied mental health issues, implied pet play, rated mature to be safe, we die like idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:14:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27982113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chillsoya/pseuds/chillsoya
Summary: Remus never knows what to get Sirius for Christmas, so Lily helps out in a way he doesn't expect.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	Giftwrapped

The thing about Christmas was that it meant buying people presents, and Remus felt pretty qualified to say that he’s bad at it. 

It’s not to say that he buys people shit presents. It’s more that he fucking hates huge crowds bustling around stores and pushing people about, getting run over by prams and trolleys and smacked in the face by an errant gift wrap or umbrella depending on the weather. Also, he has the hugest imposter syndrome where when the first doubt about what to buy comes to mind, he starts thinking he’s a god-awful friend who doesn’t put in even half the amount of effort into his relationships as he should. 

Never mind that it’s baseless. He’s spent long hours sobbing, drunk, on the phone to Lily as he laments the fact that she and all their other friends deserve better. She tends to come ‘round with coffee the next morning and lecture him about being so bloody dramatic afterwards. He can’t blame her – he only gets that anguished when he’s drunk and lonely. 

Now it’s near Christmas again and he has to buy presents. With great forethought, he got Lily something already – a fuck-off massive book, one of the textbooks she hadn’t been able to afford at the start of term 3 months ago. It had run him near £80 but he pretty much owed her after all the times she insisted on buying him coffee and cake. He had sorted James’s present, too (new football gloves because he’d burned a hole in the finger of one trying to see if they were heatproof over a fire, ‘just out of curiosity’, of all things) and even Peter (new cake tins because he hates the ones that have the ‘arse that falls out’ if you don’t click the latch in right). 

Now he’s out in the hellhole that is the town centre when people are rushing between tinsel and sequins and bauble-adorned shopfronts and the smell of exhaust fumes melds with the sausages getting cooked on a grill at the nearby German market, and cinnamon and orange peels and cigarette smoke. It’s a bit much to be taking in. His arms are sore from the bag handles hung on them like bracelets and he’s craning his neck past someone’s umbrella to try and see where he’s going. 

Mary’s sorted (painting palette and brushes), so’s Dorcas (a scarf that has pockets that look like cat paws and a pair of mittens you can pull the mitten part off to reveal fingerless gloves), and so’s Marlene (replacement champagne flutes for all the one’s he’s broken whenever he visits her by being a clumsy sod, and a Starbucks gift card to sweeten the deal). There’s only one person left. 

Sirius. 

Arguably the most important person in his life – though he would never be caught dead saying it aloud – and also the hardest to buy a present for. How he can be so impossible to choose for is beyond Remus, because no one else seems to struggle. ‘Oh, just get him a new jacket’, ‘get him some records’, ‘pay to get the oil changed on his motorbike’. None of it really seems personal enough, though. Not for someone who’s… Who’s so impossibly…. Sirius. 

Remus groans and wipes the sweat beading on his forehead as he pushes out of another tight throng of people. He’s starting to get claustrophobic and his mind is turning up nothing on what he could buy for his best friend and long-term crush. He just wants to get something nice, something that will make Sirius really, really smile. Not smile like he’s going to laugh like when James buys him weird nude-girls-calendars, or smile semi-appreciatively when Peter shrugs and hands him off another giftset of haircare products. 

Smile, like he’s lighting up. That way he sometimes does when they talk, when Remus says something that he thinks is probably stupid or silly but it just makes Sirius grin and his eyes are so bright they have stars in them. Or when they have a movie night and Remus tells Sirius he can sit on his lap instead of the floor, even though he’s only joking (mostly) right before Sirius does just that. Or when he’s excited about something, like getting to go to McDonalds at 2am for milkshakes (if the machine’s working) or when James told them that Lily’s expecting. It’s not always an easy reaction to get from him, but it’s something that Remus seems to chase as if it’s the only life affirming thing he has. 

To be honest, making Sirius look like that is the greatest honour. He tries not to think too much about how that’s as good as he’s going to get. 

Especially now that he can’t choose a fucking present. He’s definitely not going to make Sirius look like Remus put the stars in the sky if he gets some piece of shit half-arsed gift. He struggles out of the crowds and over the road before finding an empty table at a bistro and all but throwing himself into it before someone can take it. It’s set out on the street behind rope barriers, ashtrays set in the centre of each metal table, and the furniture is freezing from the elements but hell, at least it’s under a canopy and out of the rain. 

Trying to let himself decompress, Remus slumps down until he’s basically lying in the tiny chair, stupid long legs stretched far underneath the opposite chair. He wracks his brain again and again but comes up blank. Nothing would be good enough for Sirius. Not really. He has no idea how the others do it with so much composure – he’s at his limit just thinking about it, a headache forming in his temples and the tension in his shoulders starting to hurt. He hates not knowing what to get for people, and he hates it even more if it’s Sirius, because Sirius deserves every fucking good thing on the earth and Remus is trying to see to it that he gets at least one more of them this Christmas, given by yours truly. 

Hoisting himself upright, he orders a hot chocolate and braces his arms on the table, nervous energy causing him to drum his fingers as he waits. Should he call Lily? Would she be busy? Maybe even exasperated at him for getting so stressed about this, again? He can’t really predict it, but shame curdles in his gut all the same because he doesn’t want to stress her out with his melodrama. Groaning, he pulls out his phone and considers his list of contacts before settling on James, the next best thing. After all, everyone always talked about how James and Sirius have been inseparable for years. It might make Remus feel a bit bitter and left out, but it has its uses and this is one of them. 

“’Lo? Hiya Remus. Are you at a concert or something? It’s fucking loud on your end.” 

Remus winces and cups a hand around the mic and his mouth to try and lessen the backchatter. 

“I’m in town. It’s giving me the same levels of anxiety as a concert would, though. Or maybe worse because the music’s not as good as anything I’d go in for.” 

James snorts but sounds at least a bit sympathetic.   
“Shopping for Christmas?” he asks, knowing already what the reason for this call is if his tone is anything to go by. Remus mumbles under his breath before sighing and speaking up.   
“Yeah, it’s… Done. Nearly.”   
“Hey, did you get somewhere to sit down and take a break though? Try not to freak yourself out,” James mothers, and Remus rolls his eyes even though he can’t see it.   
“I’m fine, I’m fine, it’s just – well, I have one more to get, for –“   
“Sirius,” James finishes. It’s matter-of-fact, and Remus draws up short even though he should have expected it. “Mate, just give him a confession of your undying love and he’ll be set right up.” 

Remus groans and drops his forehead into his hand, the background noise filtering back through the mic to James’s end again. 

“I’m not looking to get laughed at by him when I give him his present, so no thanks,” he half-hisses before morphing his face into something more people-pleasing as he gets his hot chocolate and gives it a stir.   
“Who said anything about getting laughed at?” James asks, sounding petulant if not also amused. Remus sighs again, not having the patience to respond. After a moment’s silence, James starts up again with a world-weary huff. “Alright, alright. I’ll think of something, okay? Just, don’t worry about it.” 

One Remus is home in his flat he feels heavy with shame at not knowing what to do. Of course James would know, and tell Remus to back off and quit worrying. Let the best friend take care of it. He feels dangerously close to drinking some of his sorrows away and calling in sick for work tomorrow instead of facing up to this shortcoming, but instead manages to make himself a box of kraft mac and cheese and eat it before going straight to bed. 

\-- 

“Santa’s here!” 

Lily is standing in the doorway with a bright smile, bundled up from the cold that permeates into the stairwell of Remus’s building. He quickly ushers her in, confusion evident on his face as she bustles inside holding a neatly wrapped package. The paper glints in the hallway lights and he stares at the dancing and ice skating polar bears on it, nonplussed. There’s another week until they all exchange presents and there’s no reason for Lily to be here early, hefting this large and slightly unwieldy, sagging thing over her slightly noticeable baby bump. 

“Uh, ho ho ho?” he says as he follows her into the living room, kicking the front door shut as he goes. She repeats the exaggerated laugh before plopping the present down on the coffee table and shucking off her gloves, scarf and hat, tossing the snow-damp clothing onto the worn-out armchair. She blows a raspberry, rubs her pink hands over her equally pink nose and cheeks and acts out a dramatic shiver before perching on the edge of the armchair with her coat still on. 

“Well…?” she prompts with an incline of her head, smiling and batting her eyelashes. Remus looks from her to the parcel as he sits down stiffly on the sofa, sore from having fallen asleep there in front of a national geographic documentary before Lily woke him up by battering on the door.   
“Am I… Supposed to open it now?” he asks, and she nods so enthusiastically that she looks like a bobble-head figurine people put on their dashboards. He can’t help but laugh a little sheepishly and rub the back of his neck. He’s a bit put on the spot right now. “It’s not time to exchange presents yet, is it? I can go get you yours if you want, though –“ he starts, and she starts shaking her head quickly. 

“No, no, it’s not really an – exchange or anything. Just a little something I picked up and thought maybe you’d like it.” 

After a moment’s hesitation Remus finally leans forward off the sofa and turns the parcel over to delicately pick apart the tape. Lily is watching, rapt, though Remus doesn’t see that she’s got a sort of smirk playing around her lips. 

When the paper is peeled back, he touches the item inside. It’s black leather, a jacket – slightly cracked so probably vintage. Remus is… Confused. He never wears jackets like this, nor does he see why she would see it and think of him or bring it to him like it’s something special. He feels… a bit guilty but he has to say the main point to his confusion or he would be lying to her, in essence. 

“Lily, uh… It’s nice but I don’t… wear leather?” 

Remus has never been a vegetarian or vegan or anything, nor has he ever really considered it as something he could possibly get by doing. Not to say he eats an unusual amount of meat, but he has a carnivore’s inclination for the stuff whenever he can get it. However, something has always been off-putting to him about leather, at least on him. Wearing another animal’s hide to keep himself warm… It’s not something that settles nicely with him. 

And yet, he has absolutely no qualms about it when Sirius wears jackets like this. In fact, he really rather likes it when Sirius wears leather because he always looks so effortlessly cool in it. He finds it hard not to admire Sirius at any given point, but the leather jackets fit such a particular aesthetic that is just so typically him that Remus really can’t refuse the allure. He never complains if Sirius gives him a hug when wearing leather, nor does he refrain from touching him at all because of it. It’s just… It’s fine if it’s Sirius, somehow. Remus just can’t really bring himself to wear the stuff himself. 

Lily let’s out an fairly false ‘awwww’ and pouts, pretending to look very upset about the whole thing. In fact, she keeps it up until it starts to get convincing even with the twinkle in her eye and Remus actually starts to feel bad. What is she trying to get at here? Sighing, he reaches awkwardly to the jacket to pick it up and actually get a proper look at the thing, only for Lily to jump from her perch on the armchair and seize his wrists. 

“Hey, no, no need!” she gasps, eyes wild and a little panicked. As soon as he concedes to halting the motion, she looks just fine again, a wide grin taking over her features. He’s a bit thrown by the sudden change. “Don’t force yourself to do something against your, uh… Principles, hm?” She’s still rushing over her words to convince him and when she lets go of his wrists he feels the blood getting let back in. 

“Right,” he mumbles, only getting more and more perplexed. He watches her suspiciously as she heads into his kitchen and comes back with scissors and tape, kneeling down on the floor by the coffee table and stretching out her hands once before taking on a look of concentration as if she’s about to perform surgery. 

She mends the wrapping on the present and then stands up and dusts off her knees and hands with a satisfied hum before turning to pick up her hat, scarf and gloves, beginning to don them. 

“Anyway, look, I’ve really got to get going,” she calls over her shoulder as she finishes winding the scarf around her neck. “Petunia’s come into town with her little git – I mean, kid, Dudley – and Vernon, so mum’s strongarmed me into going to meet them for dinner with them. Do you think you could just hold on to that for me?” she asks, before turning to him with dramatic flair and holding up a finger as if she’s just had the best idea of her life. “Actually, a better idea. How ‘bout you just hand it off to someone else or something? M’sure there’ll be someone who will appreciate it. Alright?” 

Remus is a bit dumbstruck but at least now he gets why she was doing all this in the first place. She’s brought him a present for Sirius and played it off as a misguided present for him, just to make him feel less useless. He swallows roughly, a bit ashamed of himself for making her go to this effort and doubly startled that she would bother with all these theatrics. 

“Um… Alright,” he agrees dumbly, deciding not to point out that he knows exactly what she’s up to. After all, she’s just trying to help and she’s done a damn better job of getting a present for Sirius than Remus had on the first go around. He follows Lily out to the door and gives her a hug, tugging her hat down better over her ears and manages a smile. “G’luck with the Dursleys,” he grins, and she groans and pulls her scarf up over her nose. 

“Just hope I don’t toss a drink, or get a drink tossed over me,” she huffs, before turning and setting off down the stairs. “See you later!” 

\- 

Remus is left with the re-wrapped parcel, wondering if he should go through with Lily’s intention to give it to Sirius. He feels like a total failure of a friend, but the idea of going back out to the shops is like half a heart attack on command, and he knows ordering online has no guarantee it’ll get here in time now. Groaning, he picks up the present, frowning a little at how heavy it is. It must be lined or something, maybe wool or whatever. He grunts as he posts it up on top of his bookshelf for the moment, fiddling with he hem of his jumper as he wanders the flat trying to untangle his thoughts. 

He never wraps presents that well, so what if Sirius knows that Remus didn’t buy it from the precise wrapping? Or would it be more sensible to assume that Remus had bought it and had Lily wrap it? Then again, if he made Lily wrap it so it looked perfect but hadn’t gotten her to do all the other ones, wouldn’t that add too much significance? Then he remembers the dancing, skating polar bears and figures that it probably won’t exactly look romantic either way – it’s not like it’s fancy paper, even if it is nice and the sort that probably costs £5 a roll instead of the usual £1.50 for 3 that Remus goes for in the supermarket. 

Is he too much of a sell-out if he gifts something someone else chose, though? Doesn’t that mean it lacks the importance and… intimacy that it would if Remus had gone and picked it out himself? Still, he just can’t think of anything better to get, certainly not something that he’ll be able to get his hands on in a week’s time. Sighing, he settles back down on the sofa and stretches his legs out across the seats, giving in for now. If he thinks of something else that he can get before then in the next couple days, he’ll go for that. If not, the jacket will be good enough to get by with and he’ll try not to let the shame eat him alive. 

Really, he is a bloody awful excuse of a friend. 

\- 

A couple days pass and he doesn’t think of anything better. He feels rotten about it but doesn’t mention it to anyone; after all, he doesn’t want Lily to feel bad for helping him out. As time goes by he keeps trying to come up with new ideas but the news shows how busy the town centre is and he can’t face it. Unless he’s going to get something totally shit from the supermarket, he’s stuck with the leather jacket. 

The day of the gift exchange comes around, seeing Remus standing in a sweater (which is just one that he wears year-round) in Lily and James’s kitchen with a glass of mulled wine and nerves already thrumming with the knowledge that they’ll be opening the presents soon. Lily has made herself no-alcohol mulled wine that James insists on drinking too in solidarity, so the two of them are the perfectly sober hosts walking between the guests and creating conversation whenever it lags. Not that it lags where Sirius is, lounging in the corner of the modular sofa with a huge grin on his face, hair in pigtails with tinsel scrunchies that make him look like a schoolgirl at a Christmas party. He’s aware of that, though, and he’s creating commotion by chatting away with everyone who comes near and making them laugh. 

Remus wants to follow his instinct to gravitate towards Sirius but he knows he’ll get swallowed up in the noise over there and burn himself out faster. So instead he just stands in the kitchen against the counter and eats cookies while he waits for people to start gathering in the living room properly for the exchange. It shouldn’t be long, and then he can get over his terror of giving Sirius the gift. Maybe he should insist on giving that one first so he can use the rest of the evening to recuperate. 

But no. When the heralding shout from Peter comes to get everyone in one place, Remus files in at the back end after a final swig of mulled wine, of which he’s already had a couple of glasses and is feeling warm with a little less edge on his anxiety. His position at the back wall trying not to hit the lightswitch with his shoulder means he can’t grab any presents from the pile in front of the non-functioning gas fireplace and throw that anyone to take his fate into his own hands. So, instead, he just stands there with a smile plastered on his face as Lily starts scooping up presents and handing them out with a bright smile. 

It seems she has the utter opposite agenda from Remus. The presents keep on being handed out, unwrapped and cooed over or giggled at but the one from Remus to Sirius remains at the bottom. Sometimes her hands slide over the top of it and he gets hopeful but then she always glances his way with as if knowing what he’s thinking and moves straight past it. 

Everyone loves the presents Remus bought for them and as the present-giving is winding down, there are only a few left. The polar bears on the red background are finally isolated from all the others, and people who have already opened all their presents and seen all the ones they gifted opened filter back to the kitchen past Remus with laughs and words tossed back and forth as they decide to get more food or drinks. Sirius is waiting eagerly, apparently knowing exactly which present he’s missing. It does make Remus feel a little better that he’s anticipating the present. 

The only thing is, he hasn’t actually received a present from Sirius himself. That’s not something that usually really happens, since Sirius usually gets something for Remus that simultaneously makes him laugh and cry because they’re always sweet and well thought out. Could it be the case that Sirius hadn’t known what to get him this year? Remus doesn’t know if he’s hurt by it, but he assumes that they’ll mention it later when this whole ordeal is done. 

James excuses himself with a shout over the shoulder saying he’s going to get the pizza ordered, and Lily picks up the present that Remus has been waiting for all this time. Instead of giving it to Sirius directly like she had with every other one, she puts it into Rem’s arms and pats his shoulder. 

They’re the last 3 in the room – the noise indicates that the party has spilled out into the back garden where people are milling around the chimnea and arguing who gets to put their skewered marshmallows over it first. Remus feels like a deer caught in headlights as he looks down at the present and over to Sirius, as if he’s calculating how many steps it’ll take and if there are any obstructions. One might’ve thought it was a fragile thing inside, but instead it’s just that Remus is bloody nervous of Sirius working out Lily got this for him and Remus is just fobbing him off. 

“Right! You two enjoy. I need to go make sure Peter doesn’t set himself on fire trying to get the first s’mores.” Lily leaves just like that, and Remus finds himself going bright red because surely she knows that she’s just made it far more awkward than it has to be. Sighing, he steels himself and carries the present like he’s bringing Sirius his newborn child. 

“I think we’re alone now,” Sirius sings, grin large and cocky, “there doesn’t seem to be anyone around.” Remus rolls his eyes and smiles back, handing the present off to Sirius. 

“Yeah, don’t think I can ever remember the living room being this empty at one of these,” he points out, though it only makes him feel like he’s highlighting how suddenly awkward he feels around his best friend. He’s being stupid probably, so he tries to tell himself so and calm down a bit. No need to go out of his way to make a fool of himself.   
“Y’don’t look pleased about it either. What’s in here, a dildo or something?” he snorts. “Feels too personal if you give it privately, eh?” he winks, and Remus palms his hair out of his face with a glowing blush on his cheeks and the desperate attempt to look nonchalant if not amused. 

“Never heard of such a rectangular and... flaccid dildo,” he shrugs, and Sirius concedes with a laugh and sits himself up crosslegged to actually open the damn thing. 

The leather jacket is revealed pretty quick – Sirius has never been particularly reverent with gift wrap even if the present is wrapped beautifully. Remus wants to wince at seeing it, again feeling like a sell-out for this. Sirius grins, but his eyes aren’t exactly shining the way Remus had hoped for when he had first set out to buy a present in the first place. 

“Nice! Let’s take a look then,” he cheers, pulling back the collar of the jacket and unfolding out the sleeves. It’s when he’s pushing back the unzipped front after that he pauses, eyes widening. Remus blinks and leans forward, trying to see what’s got him so surprised. 

Inside the leather jacket, hidden away so that Remus didn’t see it until now, is a leather collar with a silver tag and – and a leash. Remus feels like his life force is draining straight out of his body. Sirius picks it up carefully, glancing around to make sure no one is there, and Remus is surprised to see that he’s actually starting to blush. Not joking around, not poking fun, not saying ‘ooh la la!’. Instead, he’s turning steadily redder as he fingers the fabric and looks up slowly at Remus with wide eyes and blown pupils. 

“So that’s what you’re into?” Sirius asks, but his voice kind of wavers despite himself even though he’s trying to wiggle his eyebrows and appear unphased. Remus turns dark red at the implication, looking aside. What the fuck, Lily? “Aren’t you even going to ask nicely?” he adds, and Remus is just... confused. Very, very confused. 

Also a little bit turned on because, well, yeah he probably is into that in much the same way he might be in to pretty much everything if it came to Sirius. Not that he’s going to say that out loud. 

It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to reveal that he didn’t choose this present now. He’ll have to have some strong words with Lily later, but for now, Sirius is sitting down on the coffee table in front of him and holding the collar out with a challenge in his eyes, pink cheeks and a grin. 

“Go on then. Let’s try it on for size.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> I haven't written for the HP fandom in months now. After JKR's slew of utter transphobic shite I was really put off the idea of writing for this fandom because it felt like being complicit. However, the Marauders have always seemed more the property of the fandom then the property of JKR, as she only truly gave some of them names and rudimentary characteristics (sometimes not even that). So, I've decided to try and write for the Marauders a little more. I hope you guys like this one alskjdsk I was kind of winging it after looking at Christmas tropes to get festive.


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